


‘Tis good, ‘tis fiddy, ‘tis right, ‘tis proper

by mmmuse



Series: Moments from Poldark [13]
Category: Poldark - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-07
Updated: 2017-07-07
Packaged: 2018-11-29 00:59:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11429862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mmmuse/pseuds/mmmuse
Summary: Christmas at Nampara as seen through the eyes of Prudie.





	‘Tis good, ‘tis fiddy, ‘tis right, ‘tis proper

**Author's Note:**

> One of my responsibilities for the [Poldark Podcast](https://poldarkpodcast.tumblr.com/) is to capture all of the responses that come in after each episode. It can require a little detective work sometimes, but I've managed to do a pretty decent job of it. Until this week's podcast. I've been sick for the last week and have been a bit sleep deprived. As a result, I didn't wake up the hour before we record (for me, that's 4:30 AM #effingtimezones) to do my last scour for responses. 
> 
> So I missed a few. I'm so sorry, [@mymusingsfromtheheart](https://mymusingsfromtheheart.tumblr.com/), [@absolutelyaddictedpoldarky](https://absolutelyaddictedpoldarky.tumblr.com/) and [@tropilisa](https://tropilisa.tumblr.com/), for missing your great responses to our episode questions. I hope you'll accept this little gift as part of my apology.

Prudie mopped her brow with the back of her hand and looked with pride at her accomplishment. She’d been hard at work since dawn, preparing the Christmas dinner for Captain Ross and the maid, their family and friends. Potted shrimp, spiced and preserved in clarified butter, are served on thin slices of toast, along with a chilled white wine to start. Roast goose was the main course this year, such a change from last year’s offering: one of their last chooks, with barely enough to feed two. ‘Twas a good thing the lad had still been so small. Nowadays, they had their pick of geese for the offing, and she’d stuffed it with apples from their orchard and prunes the mistress had received from Miss Penvenen on one of her many visits to Nampara. Prudie spied the lady, beautifully coiffed and gowned as always, just through the door leading to the parlour and felt a pang of sadness for her, being separated from Dr Enys for so long, and under such dire circumstances.

The clock in the parlour rang half past one. Time to bring out the food. Along with the goose, garnished with red currant jelly and bread sauce, there were roasted potatoes the maid told her to cook in the goose fat. They smelled delicious. Brussel sprouts with chestnuts finished off the main course, all to be topped off with a flaming plum pudding and hard sauce.

She bustled out, carrying the sprouts and potatoes as the family gathered around the table. Such a great change from last year, where the master had been sullen and preoccupied, the maid so fearful over the smuggling venture he’d taken on. Such strife, and near destruction after the master’d all but lost his mind over that woman in Trenwith. Prudie wouldn’t have blamed the maid a’tall if she’d made good on her threat to leave after what the Captain put her through. To see how far they’d come from the brink, the happiness and love they shared with Jeremy and now baby Clowance, it had more than once brought a tear to Prudie’s eyes.

She went back for the goose just as the Captain lifted his strong baritone voice in song, something she hadn’t heard him do since he was a lad. The rest of the family joined in:

 _God bless the master of this house,_  
_The mistress, also,_  
_And all the little children,_  
_That round the table go;_  
_And all your kin and kinsmen_  
_That dwell both far and near;_  
_I wish you a Merry Christmas,_ _  
And a Happy New Year._

Prudie set the goose down on the table, her chest swelling with pride when she heard the Captain lean close to his son and whisper “Looks good, doesn’t it?”

‘Tis good, ‘tis fiddy, ‘tis right, ‘tis proper

**Author's Note:**

> Food descriptions credited to the following: [Food: A Traditional English Christmas Feast, by Moira Hodgson, published December 13, 1987, New Your Times](http://www.nytimes.com/1987/12/13/nyregion/food-a-traditional-english-christmas-feast.html?mcubz=2)


End file.
